DEFINING DEMOCRACY

Government of the People

In the dictionary definition, democracy “is government by the people in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.” In the phrase of Abraham Lincoln, democracy is a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

Freedom and Democracy are often used interchangeably, but the two are not synonymous. While Democracy is a set of ideas and principles about freedom, Democracy is also a set of practices and procedures. Democracy is the institutionalization of freedom.

When a society rejects the practices and procedures that institutionalize freedom – Democracy itself is at risk. Without a free and fair electorial system Democracy is impossible.

Voter Eligibility

Democracies establish rules for the conduct of fair and free elections. The first of these rules identify “who” is qualified or “eligible” to vote. Age, citizenship, residency or an obligation to pay taxes are frequent requirements to qualify as a voter.

One Person – One Vote

The second rule, universally adopted in Democracies, is the rule of “one person, one vote”. This rule stands for the proposition that every qualified elector is entitled to one and only one vote.

FORMS OF ELECTION FRAUD

Ballot stuffing, the illegal act of one person submitting multiple ballots during a vote in which only one ballot per person is permitted. The name originates from the earliest days of this practice in which people literally did stuff more than one ballot in a ballot box at the same time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballot_stuffing

Registering false voters, the deceased or fictitious people is another form of voter fraud.

Subverting voter registration rules, by falsifying residency, citizenship, age, name or other qualifications, is voter fraud.

Voting in multiple precincts, known as carousel voting, is a form of voter fraud. Individuals who sell their vote or vote in multiple precincts are known as “floaters.”

ACORN – Conduct Aimed At Subverting Democracy?

ACORN or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, has been described as “a multimillion-dollar outfit that uses intimidation and other tactics to push its agenda of voter registration.” Acorn officials bill themselves as nonpartisan community organizers. You can decide what you think based upon the history. http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009189

Where does ACORN get its “millions of dollars” from. The US Taxpayer, thats where. As part of a Fannie Mae funding bill in 1995, House Democrats passed a “trust fund” designed to subsidize ACORN. http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009189 ACORN operates in at least 38 states as well as Canada and Mexico.

ACORN claims that the Organization has never been indicted, however the facts show that “ACORN workers had been convicted in Wisconsin and Colorado, and investigations were still under way in Ohio, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.” in November 2004. “Four workers from Acorn, had been indicted by a federal grand jury for submitting false voter registration forms to the Kansas City, Missouri, election board”. http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009189

ACORN supports the concept of “Voters Without Borders” – the practice of not requiring any sort of Voter ID to qualify voters as being elligible to cast a ballot and allowing those same individuals to cast ballots where-ever they please.

ACORN’s hostility toward voter identification laws aimed at ensuring fairness and accuracy at the polls was evidenced by the lawsuit ACORN filed challenging Voter ID laws in MIssouri. ACORN has brought similar court challenges in other states, including Ohio. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/voters-without-borders/68846/

Acorn and its affiliates have pulled some real stunts in recent years. In Ohio in 2004, a worker for one affiliate was given crack cocaine in exchange for fraudulent registrations that included underage voters, dead voters and pillars of the community named Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy and Jive Turkey.

During a Congressional hearing in Ohio in the aftermath of the 2004 election, officials from several counties in the state explained Acorn’s practice of dumping thousands of registration forms in their lap on the submission deadline, even though the forms had been collected months earlier. “You have to wonder what’s the point of that, if not to overwhelm the system and get phony registrations on the voter rolls,” says Thor Hearne of the American Center for Voting Rights, who also testified at the hearing. “These were Democratic officials saying that they felt their election system in Ohio was under assault by these kinds of efforts to game the system.” http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009189

On Election Day, Poll Watchers are allowed to monitor Election activities and “challenge” individuals who may not meet voter “qualifications” …… not so during Ohio’s “early election period”. Why is it okay to have Election observors in November but not during early voting in October? Seems very peculiar to me ….

“ACORN routinely says it will clean up its act. Yet, given its decade-long history of voter fraud, embezzlement, and misuses of taxpayer funds, ACORN’s pattern of fraud can no longer be dismissed as a series of ‘unfortunate events.’

“The problem of voter registration fraud raises serious questions for this committee, and the Consumers Rights League appreciates that the right questions are being asked. “Here are the most important questions right now: We know about the thousands of potentially fraudulent voter registration cards turned in by ACORN and caught by officials. But given the size of ACORN’s efforts and the fact that the abuses appear to be systemic, we believe it is fair to question how many more fraudulent registrations have not been discovered.”

Furthermore, as this mega organization with a decades long history of violating the law is turned to get out the vote efforts, we believe it is fair to question how many fraudulent registrations may lead to fraudulent votes or what other activities they are willing to undertake to influence the election.”

“These are serious questions, especially in light of recent election results which show that a just few votes can change the outcome of an election, the course of our country and the course of history.”

ACORN registered a 13 year old to Vote in New Mexico.

ACORN workers submitted 35,000 registrations in Kansas City – 85% of the registrations were “bogus”

Out of 1800 voter registrations submitted by ACORN in the state of Washington – only 8 were legitimate.

ACORN is not a Democratic or Republican problem ?

In Michigan, ACORN signed up more than 200,000 new voters in the Metro Detroit area. “Several municipal clerks across the state are reporting fraudulent and duplicate voter registration applications, most of them from a nationwide community organization” …”The majority of the problem applications are coming from the group ACORN, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which has a large voter registration program” ….. “There appears to be a sizeable number of duplicate and fraudulent applications,” said Kelly Chesney, spokeswoman for the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office. “And it appears to be widespread.” The Secretary of State’s Office has turned over several of the applications to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008809140383 The Free Press is a liberal publication.

The Consumers Rights League discusses Voter Registration issues in Michigan, ACORN and the Democratic Party’s attempt to funnel money from the “Bailout Package” to ACORN. Prior to the “BAILOUT” package, ACORN was already receiving $100 Million dollars in funding a year.

The Consumers Rights League criticizes ACORN for being one of the “predatory lenders” responsible for creating the Finance/Housing crisis.

Virginia Voter Fraud was funded by ACORN’s Political Action Committee

Investigation into Virginia Voter Fraud expands:

The most disturbing example of modern day Voter Fraud in the United States may involve ACORN activity in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal Reported that, “Inquiry finds evidence of fraud in election, Cast ballots outnumber voters by 4,609″. http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=324933

“Investigators said Tuesday they found clear evidence of fraud in the Nov. 2 election in Milwaukee, including more than 200 cases of felons voting illegally and more than 100 people who voted twice, used fake names or false addresses or voted in the name of a dead person. Officials said charges will be filed in coming weeks, as individual cases are reviewed and more evidence is gathered. Even now, three months after the investigation, officials have not been able to close a gap of 7,000 votes.” http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=324933

The fraud investigation has focused on the more than 70,000 people who registered to vote on election day, not the other 200,000-plus other voters. That is because registration cards provide a paper trail, which officials said would be stronger in court than computerized records.

The FBI and Milwaukee Police Department have logged more than 1,000 hours reviewing the 70,000 same-day registration cards, including 1,300 that could not be processed because of missing names, addresses and other information. http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=324933

The Journal noted that, “non-residents used non-existent city addresses to vote in Milwaukee. Officials are checking to see if they also voted elsewhere, such as from their actual address.”

After an ongoing investigation, The Journal reported that, “Criminal investigations could be launched against at least six voter registration workers who tried to add dead, imprisoned or imaginary people to the voter rolls, according to the Milwaukee Election Commission.” http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=780716

“One woman called us to complain because her husband has been dead for 10 years and a voter registration was submitted,” Edman said.

In about 12 cases, deputy registrars paid by ACORN were “making people up or registering people that were still in prison,”. In other cases, workers used the same address for numerous voters or used driver’s license numbers that did not fit the voters’ birth dates. But most of the fraud involved submitting duplicate cards for voters who were already registered, and forging the voters’ signatures. http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=780716.

In 2004, the Presidental Election in Wisconsin was decided by 11,000 votes.

The Solution

The solutions are simple – require a State issued ID to vote or obtain an absentee ballot.

Computerize voter registration rolls and cross index them with Driver’s License and Social Security records.

End same day Registration & Vote programs.

Require proof of citizenship. If you are hired for a new job, the law requires you to submit proof of citizenship before you start to work- why do we treat the privilege of voting as if it were of lesser importance.

Our Democracy is based upon free and fair elections – not only to we need to conduct free and fair elections but the elections must be perceived as being free and fair by the electorate.